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A review by jaredkwheeler
Honor Among Thieves by James S.A. Corey
5.0
Star Wars Legends Project #271
Background: Honor Among Thieves was written by [a:James S.A. Corey|4192148|James S.A. Corey|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1573162332p2/4192148.jpg] and published in March of 2014. It was actually the very last Legends novel ever published, and was supposed to be the middle book of a loose trilogy (all by different authors). It instead became the second book in a loose duology and the final book in the trilogy became a stand-alone novel published in the new canon continuity. Corey is the pen name of cowriters Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, best known for their amazing series The Expanse. This is their only Star Wars book.
Honor Among Thieves takes place sometime during the second year after the Battle of Yavin. The main characters are Han Solo and Chewbacca, but also include Leia, Luke, Threepio, Artoo, and Wedge Antilles. The story takes place on Cioran, Kiamurr, and Seymarti V.
Summary: Once again, the Rebellion has a mission that it seems only Han Solo can do: Extract a spy from deep cover in the middle of the Core Worlds. Of course, everything goes wrong almost immediately and Han is left to improvise as only he can. To make matters worse, the spy, Scarlet Hark, has her own ideas about what the actual mission is, and she can be extremely persuasive . . . Especially when she tells Han that the intel she's gathered could spell doom for Princess Leia, the Rebellion, and maybe the galaxy itself!
Review: The Expanse may just be my all-time favorite science fiction series, so suffice to say I went into this novel with very high expectations. If anything, Honor Among Thieves exceeded them. Seldom do you read a Star Wars book that just gets these characters the way this one does. It's so rare that it must be difficult to do, but they make it look easy. This had everything I want in a Star Wars novel from this era, and then some.
What I particularly love about their Expanse books is, every time you think you've figured out the trajectory of the story, they throw a massive bomb into the middle of everything and blow up the status quo, forcing events to take a hard left turn. The plotting in this story isn't quite that disruptive, but it does keep you guessing and never feels predictable. I love the way they'll seed something into the story and you'll have all-but-forgotten about it when suddenly it pops back up again in an unexpected way.
The real star of this story is Han, and they've tackled the key transformation of his character from a pragmatic individualist into a selfless Rebel leader. Throughout the book, Han repeatedly confronts the question of why he's choosing to remain with the Rebellion when he doesn't entirely trust that their ultimate victory (if its even possible) will be an improvement. And of course, that isn't entirely resolved (we're still pre-Empire Strikes Back after all), but it does paint a picture of why he's even still hanging around so long after Yavin.
My biggest complaint is that I can't believe this got stuck right behind the slamming door of the old closed canon! Scarlet Hark is an awesome character, and I want more! Let's get these guys another novel in the new canon, ASAP!
A
Background: Honor Among Thieves was written by [a:James S.A. Corey|4192148|James S.A. Corey|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1573162332p2/4192148.jpg] and published in March of 2014. It was actually the very last Legends novel ever published, and was supposed to be the middle book of a loose trilogy (all by different authors). It instead became the second book in a loose duology and the final book in the trilogy became a stand-alone novel published in the new canon continuity. Corey is the pen name of cowriters Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, best known for their amazing series The Expanse. This is their only Star Wars book.
Honor Among Thieves takes place sometime during the second year after the Battle of Yavin. The main characters are Han Solo and Chewbacca, but also include Leia, Luke, Threepio, Artoo, and Wedge Antilles. The story takes place on Cioran, Kiamurr, and Seymarti V.
Summary: Once again, the Rebellion has a mission that it seems only Han Solo can do: Extract a spy from deep cover in the middle of the Core Worlds. Of course, everything goes wrong almost immediately and Han is left to improvise as only he can. To make matters worse, the spy, Scarlet Hark, has her own ideas about what the actual mission is, and she can be extremely persuasive . . . Especially when she tells Han that the intel she's gathered could spell doom for Princess Leia, the Rebellion, and maybe the galaxy itself!
Review: The Expanse may just be my all-time favorite science fiction series, so suffice to say I went into this novel with very high expectations. If anything, Honor Among Thieves exceeded them. Seldom do you read a Star Wars book that just gets these characters the way this one does. It's so rare that it must be difficult to do, but they make it look easy. This had everything I want in a Star Wars novel from this era, and then some.
What I particularly love about their Expanse books is, every time you think you've figured out the trajectory of the story, they throw a massive bomb into the middle of everything and blow up the status quo, forcing events to take a hard left turn. The plotting in this story isn't quite that disruptive, but it does keep you guessing and never feels predictable. I love the way they'll seed something into the story and you'll have all-but-forgotten about it when suddenly it pops back up again in an unexpected way.
The real star of this story is Han, and they've tackled the key transformation of his character from a pragmatic individualist into a selfless Rebel leader. Throughout the book, Han repeatedly confronts the question of why he's choosing to remain with the Rebellion when he doesn't entirely trust that their ultimate victory (if its even possible) will be an improvement. And of course, that isn't entirely resolved (we're still pre-Empire Strikes Back after all), but it does paint a picture of why he's even still hanging around so long after Yavin.
My biggest complaint is that I can't believe this got stuck right behind the slamming door of the old closed canon! Scarlet Hark is an awesome character, and I want more! Let's get these guys another novel in the new canon, ASAP!
A